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Comment by nicolas_t | Hacker News Reader

I still can access netflix through the VPN I use. As long as I still can do that, I will keep my account. The second they block it, I'll cancel my netflix account and will go back to resorting to piracy. If movie studios don't want my money then so be it, I'll find better use for it.

EDIT: And I say this as someone who spends roughly $100/month supporting artists I like on Patreon and Kickstarter, so I'm not opposed to paying for content. I'm just opposed to big media conglomerates screwing me.

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Their blocking seems to be quite aggressive, as a lot of regular hosting providers even had their IP ranges blocked by them. I've been following a few forum posts where people were sharing their working VPN provider/ISP, but those were showing the same error message a few days later, so it looks like they are actively monitoring traffic and maybe even social media to block further IP ranges.

I was not able to test it (for example borrowing a residential IP in a different country) but I suspect they detect OpenVPN via packets inspection, like this example: "Detecting VPN (and its configuration!) and proxy users on the server side" by @ValdikSS https://medium.com/@ValdikSS/detecting-vpn-and-its-configura...

How are they screwing you? You pay for a Netflix sub in the country you live in, and you're paying only for the content they can license there. By making sure people can't watch whatever country they want easily, they make it easier to negotiate with license holders.

They're screwing you because, while everyone pays the same price for the same service, the library that you have access to depends entirely on what side of the border you're on. This makes absolutely no sense in a globally connected world.

Putting a wire or a signal across a border doesn't change content licensing between businesses operating in different countries. We wish it did but it doesn't.

The internet is a global connection where the concept of "countries" don't even make sense. They only exist on the internet, because we put them there. Packets don't magically change when they cross borders, why should the content?

The concept of countries makes sense legally and practically when it comes to licensing content. That's not netflix's fault.

They might make sense legally, but they don't make sense on the Internet. We're trying to patch our archaic rules onto it. Sorry laws can't keep up with technology, but tough shit to those trying to force a square peg into a round hole.

Also, while it may not be Netflix's fault, it's definitely Netflix's problem. They are the ones losing out on free money.

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